Soon after the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, by the French from Canada and their Indigenous allies, Ensign John Sheldon’s home became known as the “Indian House” because Native American soldiers hacked a hole in the front door.  Sheldon built his home in 1699 and it was taken down by the owners in 1848. A campaign to save the house, now believed to be one of America’s first preservation efforts, failed in 1847, when the committee was unable to raise the necessary funds. When the house came down, the door with its hatchet scars and several other architectural features were saved. Until Memorial Hall opened in 1880, and the door could be permanently housed as the museum’s most significant relic, it had its own board of trustees and was, for a time, on view in one of Deerfield’s hotels. One of only two 17th-century doors in existence in this country, it has been on public display since 1868.